


One Last Lingering Look

by withcoffeespoons



Series: Nixa Shepard [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Colonist (Mass Effect), Friendship, Gen, Pre-Suicide Mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withcoffeespoons/pseuds/withcoffeespoons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nixa Shepard knows what she has to do, but it's a hard order to give.</p>
<p>Her best friend Joker has a suggestion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Lingering Look

The deck was utterly silent without the crew.

Shepard knew what needed to happen. She needed to take her ship into the Omega-4 relay and get her crew back. There was only one thing left to do.

“Joker—” And yet she hesitated. How hard was it to say the words,  _ Take us in _ .

“Commander?” His voice shook like he knew.

“I’ll see you in the cockpit.”

“Aye aye.”

The sight of the stars streaking past outside the Normandy’s screen used to be a fascination for Nixa, a thrill when she first joined up. Her fleet of model ships had amassed, ready to explore the galaxy from her ceiling in the prefab on Mindoir. The stars used to reflect into infinity against the ocean waves.

Ever since—well, getting spaced certainly put things in fearful perspective. Her heart raced not with the excitement, but with a different sort of anxiety.

“Shepard,” Joker said quietly, not a question, but a half-taken breath.

“Yeah,” Nixa agreed. They didn’t need words between them to understand one another. The tension in his shoulders spoke of self-recrimination, shame. The soft catch in his throat a dead man’s resignation. They were two of a kind, souls that knew one another, that could push and pull—until they ran out of give.

“You’re always asking my opinion,” Joker said mildly.

“You’re a valuable member of this crew,” she offered, chasing her words with a frown. That was the Alliance talking, protocol. “One of the best, actually.

“And you’re my best friend, Joker.” Joker’s mouth quirked, pleased, for the span of a blink. “You’ve kept  _ me _ flying straight, not just the Normandy,” she said, leaning on the back of his chair.  _Leather seats._

“Well, I had just one more suggestion,” he said. “Before we, y’know.”

“Yeah,” she breathed. She knew. “What’s that?”

No titles, no rank, no chain of command between them now, just two friends.

“Take us home, Shepard. Not—just a flyby, you know? Enough to see—Earth,” he said, his voice breaking. “Remind some of us what’s at stake.”

Shepard nodded gently.

“I mean, I know you were a colony kid. Hell, most of the folks on this ship aren’t even human, but…”

“Earth is where I learned to be an Alliance soldier,” Nixa said. “I rebuilt my life there.” She stared out at the stars moving by, the Mass Effect relay coming about from their port side. Nothing was home like Mindoir was home, but Earth was close enough—a fitting goodbye. A reminder that humanity was more than Cerberus. “One last lingering look.”

Joker said nothing for the space of a few breaths, enough time for sorrow to thicken the air. Finally, he asked, “I gotta know—is that also where you learned to drive?”

Nixa’s mouth pulled tight in an unsteady laugh that threatened to spill tears onto her cheeks. “Is that insubordination I hear?” she asked, trying to sweep emotion back under the curtain of protocol.

“No, ma’am. Just—curious.”

Nixa flicked a fingertip at Joker’s cap. “You don’t want to know, Mr. Moreau.”

“You’re probably right.”

She placed a warm hand on his shoulder. “Set a course. Take us in.”


End file.
